Let me start by misquoting The Drew Carey Show:

Drew's girlfriend: "(after returning from a sale) Look, I got this [large human-sized] pencil for only one dollar!"
Drew Carey: "Yeah, but what are you going to do with it?"
Drew's girlfriend: "(hesitates)... This pencil! A dollar!"

(If someone can find me the quote, I'd like to correct this.)

What kind of a discount constitutes a good deal? Is a 5% discount enough to make you buy something now that you wanted to buy... but not just yet? What's your threshold for buying something you don't need or care to own?

It seemed like everytime I bought a something from Mexx, it was during a sale where everything is 30% or 50% off. Here in Taiwan, I will only buy G2000 at 30% or 50% off. Why? Because I know there will be another such sale if I just waited a bit. Does that mean 20% off isn't significant? No, it is. But why buy something at 20% off when you can get it cheaper? To me, a discount of 5% - 15% means nothing. I don't consider it a bargain because I'm used to seeing much larger 2-digit discounts.

Ok, but that's just for clothing.

For stuff around the house, I don't expect discounts, because they're harder to predict. Garbage bags don't go on sale based on seasons, nor does shampoo. In that case, if I need something, I'll get it anyway.

Now, if I see something that I don't need going at 1/2 off, I ignore if it's big, and consider it if it's small. If it's neat, I'll consider buying it. At least I think these are my purchasing habits.

What about yours?